Express train crash kills more than a hundred in India
- BTN News
- Monday, 21 November 2016
An Indian express train that derailed early on Sunday killed at least 119 people and left more than 150 injured.
It was one of the country's worst rail disasters in recent years.
"We woke up to a great thud this morning. It was pitch dark and the noise was deafening," one passenger said.
"I am lucky to be alive and safe. It was a near-death experience for us."
Many were sleeping when 14 carriages came off the tracks in a remote area outside the northern city of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh state.
It is the worst disaster since 2010, when a passenger train crashed into a freight train in the eastern state of West Bengal, killing 146 and injuring over 200.
Sunday’s train was carrying many families, some of them travelling home for weddings.
Prime minister Narendra Modi's government has pledged to invest US$137 billion over five years to modernise India’s railways, making them safer, faster and more efficient.
